Nathan Spina scored three times; including twice in the third period to break open a tie game, to help lead the Northern Hawks past the Jr. B Stars 8-5 Tuesday in Thunder Bay Junior B Hockey League action at the Tournament Centre.
The league-leading Hawks would jump out to an early two-goal lead on markers from Jeremy Yocum and Justin Tougas.
Travis Muller and Terrance Cheechoo would respond for the Stars as the duo beat affiliate netminder Brian Watts, who got the start in goal for the Hawks.
Yocum’s second of the stanza made it a 3-2 game after 20 minutes.
After Spina struck at 5:10 of the middle session the Stars answered back with tallies from Tyler Paul and Chris Bourdons to knot the affair at 4-4 heading into the third period.
The Hawks would regain the lead early in that final frame thanks to goals from Spina and Justin Affleck 34 seconds apart to put them up a pair.
Spina then completed his hat-trick as he buried his 19th of the season at 8:05.
Jordan Miller of the Stars and the Hawks’ Nick Brimmer rounded out the scoring in a game with later efforts.
Brimmer, the Jr. B’s leading scorer, also dished out four assists on the night to give him a front-running 46 points in just 16 games.
The first place Hawks improved to 15-1 on the year with the victory while the Stars slipped to 7-12.
Markus Leikkari, who entered the game in relief of Watts to start the second period, picked up the win. Joey Wanzuk suffered the loss. Total shots on goal were 47-22 in favour of the winners.
The Hawks were to have played the Nipigon Elks (14-2) Friday in the next league contest, but that game has been postponed and will be made up in the New Year.
That means the 2011 portion on the schedule will wrap-up this weekend as the Schreiber Falcons travel to Eagle Lake to meet the Northern Renegades Saturday and Sunday at Eagle Lake Arena. The opener gets underway at 7:30 p.m. and the two-game set concludes the following day with a 1 p.m. matinee.
